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Yea, I used to weld for a living, my truck and forklift are both 1985, spent $15,000 on both about twenty years ago. The pollen sub business has been good of late, thinking of adding another 6,000 feet to my shop.

Love paperwork and fees???

Oh the joys of big trucks (26000 gvw or over) here in California:

Commercial license with medical certificate every two years.
Pull Notice Program - informs you if you or you're drivers license's are valid.
Alcohol and Drug testing Program - just what it says.
BIT Inspection Program - CHP inspects your rig and paperwork every two years.
Motor Carrier Permit - a special number on the door of your truck that enriches the public coffer.
The list goes on.

§391.2 General exemptions.
(a) Farm custom operation. The rules in this part do not apply to a driver who drives a commercial motor vehicle controlled and operated by a person engaged in custom-harvesting operations, if the commercial motor vehicle is used to—

(a)(1) Transport farm machinery, supplies, or both, to or from a farm for custom-harvesting operations on a farm; or

(a)(2) Transport custom-harvested crops to storage or market.

(b) Apiarian industries. The rules in this part do not apply to a driver who is operating a commercial motor vehicle controlled and operated by a beekeeper engaged in the seasonal transportation of bees.

(c) Certain farm vehicle drivers. The rules in this part do not apply to a farm vehicle driver except a farm vehicle driver who drives an articulated (combination) commercial motor vehicle as defined in §390.5. (For limited exemptions for farm vehicle drivers of articulated commercial motor vehicles see §391.67.)

Dbest,
even with farm plates though, don't you still have to have a CDL and stop at all the weigh stations? Do you truck all your own bees out to Cali yourself?

Yes I have a CDL and I do stop at the weigh stations. I carry a copy of the FMVSS book with me and often have to play the role of a kindergarten teacher and read the laws to them. My father drove a load out last Sunday. We hired the other loads. It keeps getting more and more difficult to deal with trucking companys. I trucked them to Ga.

I have to agree with Jean-Marc, all 8 rear tires pulling off road are best with a big truck.A 4 way locker set of tandems. They are not common on most highway tractors,but when engaged all four sets of tires turn,not just one end on each axle.
A 6 foot Canadian spread is also nice ,in which the tandems are spread apart 6 feet, and pulls better on uneven terrain, which all helps with a heavy truck and load off road

>>Freightliner, International, Kenworth, Pete., etc.?
Horsepower?
Lock-in rear differential?
How heavy of axles?
How long of bed? I'm thinking 25 feet. 288 hives.
sleeper, or is this just a waste of space?
What other options?

I will toss a few thoughts into the discussion.

We have a Freightliner, big Detroit. But we pull two grain trailers. She likes here fuel, but thats what we expect when pulling a super B. If your pulling a lighter load, look for the smaller engines.
Locking difs are a must for any farming operation. It WILL get you out of a bind someday. A truck pulling an empty trailer, will always get stuck when put into awkward situations off pavement.
If your looking to pull a trailer, why look into only pulling 25 feet? Get yourself a 50 footer. YOu will use the space. Otherwise if your looking to pull 25 feet, get yourself a tone and a half. Fuel wise way more efficient.
Sometimes when looking for semis, alot of whats out there has sleepers. They dont add to the value or take from the value of a used semi. We bought a day cab, the other semi we were looking at had a sleeper.

Dont buy a semi truck from the oil fields. Try to get history on the truck before you buy it. Some of those oil truck only have a quarter million on them, but they have been used like they have one and a half million, if you get my drift. I know alot of those transport truck can be really hit and miss, but I warn you, those oil field truck are not a good first buy kind of truck.

Our truck is equipped with a 3 way dif lock,
we can lock up both tires on the back axel,
or we can lock up both tires on the frount axel,
or we can lock up both tires on both axles,
It is a real nice system to have.

Thank you!!!

Lots of great ideas, I really appreciate all the comments and help. I think I'm narrowing down my needs. I'm not sure I'm that comfortable stacking double deeps 4 high, especially in my yards - lots of off road, bumpy, some tight locations. I think, for the time being, I'll only go 3 high (216 hives). If I do this I may not need the bigger truck like the FL-112 or the KW T800. What I'm considering is something in the line of the KW T300, International 8600(which is still a good sized truck), or maybe a smaller international. I still want tandem axles for the sake of the truck but maybe only a 300 horsepower engine. I like the cummins and Detroit for gas mileage. The trucks mentioned have sloping hoods for good visibility and I think tight turning radiuses. I'll have to get lockers as I've been stuck too many times to risk that. Well, Thanks again.

i drive a 18 wheeler for a living if i was you i would get a ch613 mack its a really tuff truck and its easy to fix. macks are made for off road .and i would get a 13 speed tranny with a low reduction switch for soft mud . good luck